That's good news for the local airline industry, which is also enjoying higher profits thanks to a sharp fall in oil prices.

India's economy is booming Photo: ALAMY

India’s carriers have lost $10bn in the past seven years as they offered base fares as low as 1 rupee (1p) in a nation where provincial taxes make jet fuel prices the most expensive in Asia.

However, the nation’s oil retailers cut fuel prices, which make up as much as 60pc percent of an Indian airlines’ cost, by 10pc today to the lowest in five years as Brent, the benchmark for half of the world’s crude trading, plunged.

That sents shares in Indian-based airlines higher.

Jet Airways climbed 8.2pc to its highest since January 2011, making it the best performing share on the Bloomberg Intelligence Global Airlines Valuation Peers Index in the past month.